Google is taking decisive action against apps that drain excessive battery power, introducing a new warning system that will alert users before they download power-hungry applications.
Starting March 1, 2026, apps that fail to meet Google’s battery-efficiency standards may see reduced visibility on the Play Store and display warnings on their listing pages.
The tech giant has announced that a new core vitals metric, “excessive partial wake locks,” is now generally available to all developers through Android vitals.
This metric was developed in collaboration with Samsung, combining real-world user experience data with Android platform insights to identify apps that cause significant battery drain accurately.
Understanding Wake Locks and Battery Drain
Wake locks are permissions that allow apps to prevent devices from entering sleep mode, enabling background operations while the screen is off.
Google considers a user session excessive when an app holds more than two cumulative hours of non-exempt wake locks within 24 hours.
Wake locks are exempted only for system-held functions that provide clear user benefits, such as audio playback or user-initiated data transfers.
An app crosses the bad behavior threshold when 5% of its user sessions over the past 28 days are deemed excessive.
Apps exceeding this limit will receive alerts on their Android vitals overview page, complete with detailed wake lock tags and duration data to help developers identify problematic code.
Apps failing to meet the battery efficiency threshold will face serious consequences. Google may exclude these apps from prominent discovery surfaces, including recommendations that help users find new applications.
More notably, some app listings will display warnings that the app may cause the device’s battery to drain faster than usual.
To help developers address these issues, Google has enhanced the Android Vitals dashboard with a new Wake Lock Names table.
This tool breaks down wake lock sessions by specific tag names and durations, making it easier for developers to identify and fix problematic code in environments like Android Studio.
Google recommends investigating any wake locks with P90 or P99 durations exceeding 60 minutes.
The excessive partial wake locks metric now joins Google Play’s existing core technical quality standards, which include user-perceived crash rate, ANR (Application Not Responding) rate, and excessive battery usage for watch faces.
Together, these metrics form the foundation of technical quality bars that all apps must maintain for optimal user experience.
Google recognizes that implementing technical changes requires time and resources.
By announcing the policy now, with enforcement beginning March 1, 2026, the company gives developers several months to diagnose and resolve potential battery-drain issues before facing visibility restrictions.
Developers are encouraged to visit Android vitals immediately to review their app’s performance, consult Google’s technical documentation, and utilize the new diagnostic tools to ensure their apps deliver efficient, battery-friendly experiences for users.
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